Mikepércs: Great White Egrets or The Bogy of Tadpoles

I spent the whole morning at the pond today. I was in the hide very early struggling with the lighter and couldn't make it work. So I was unable to lit the lampion which I use against the moisture on the window in the hide. And didn't take the matches with me.
Suddenly I could hear the rustle of wings then a great white egret was standing in front of the hide. Well that's my luck, I thought. Fortunately the egret stayed there for long. Thanks to the breeze the bottom of the glass began to dry, so after a short time I could try with some shots. The first pictures however were a bit "humid":

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

Then the glass started to clear up:

Great White Egret

The egret spent the time preening itself ...:

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

... then walked on:

Great White Egret

Meanwhile two avocets arrived but they were far a bit and didn't stay long.
Then another egret came which was preening itself too for several minutes:

Great White Egret

After preening it showed it's beautiful feathers then walked on to find something to eat:

Great White Egret

Meanwhile other egrets arrived which moved around the hide, coming very close somtimes giving me the opportunity to make some portraits:

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

Meantime 3 mallards appeared, which must have been good friends as wherever they went they kept together. This is one of them:

Mallard (male)

One of the egrets meanwhile was scratching long:

Great White Egret

Mallard (male)

The mallards were seeking their food digging their heads into the water:

Mallard (male)

The morning bath:

Mallard (male)

It's still tingling ...:

Great White Egret

The egrets meantime would come and go, sometimes there were four of them nearby.

Great White Egret

Mallard (male)

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

Then the tadpoles seemed to wake up because the egrets were catching them more and more frequently:

Great White Egret

Arrival ...:

Great White Egret

... then hunting:

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

Sometimes the mallards made some exercise:

Mallard (male)

Then an interesting scene took place: One of the egrets walked onto a dried area of the pond bed. The lapwing which was staying on that area disliked this move very much, took off at once and started a serious attack against the egret which defended itself with open beaks:

Great White Egret vs. Lapwing

In the end the egret gave up and left that area:

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

Mallard (male)

The good friends:

Mallard (male)

And the combative lapwing:

Lapwing

After a while the egret started its way to the forbidden area again:

Great White Egret

The lapwing started another attack and the egret had to defend again:

Great White Egret

After a few attacking flights the lapwing was able to make the egret leave.
Soon the birds started to disappear from the pond so I left home with these nice experiences.